TV in Review: Modern Family, “Election Day”

It’s a new episode of Modern Family this week, and they do politics local-style, with Claire Dunphy running for council.

JAY: Claire likes to win. When she was eight, a little Girl Scout friend of hers bragged that she could sell the most cookies. Damned if Claire didn’t walk the neighborhood till she got blisters on her feet and won by ten boxes. Best part is, Claire wasn’t even a Girl Scout.

Claire’s closing campaign on election day is the spine of the episode, as almost everyone in the family is supposed to help her in some way, and of course they each get their obstacles.

Cam and Mitch get a loudspeaker for their car, but wind up using it to try and control pedestrians rather than promote Claire. Jay wants to vote for his daughter, but one of the poll workers is a woman with whom he did the old slip-out-in-the-middle-of-the-night trick. Claire has a fake tooth fall out, and as someone who had a poorly-done cap fall out of my mouth last year, I definitely sympathized with her dental woes.

ALEX: What is that?

HALEY: Is that a tooth? Eww.

LUKE: Awesome.

HALEY: How old are you?

I’ll be honest early and say that this felt like a subpar episode to me. They were trying all the traditional tricks, but it didn’t have the usual levity and fun. It felt forced, including Claire re-injuring her tooth a second time and Phil having to drive Walt around on errands. I didn’t even get much delight out of Cam and Mitch misusing their car megaphone. Well, it was kind of funny when their gossip could be heard by all passers-by.

There were a couple laugh-out-loud moments for me, the first of which came when Phil tells a reporter from the Pennysaver just how optimistic Claire is about her electoral chances.

PHIL: Her spirits are high. The whole family’s high. There’s your headline.

And there were some other good lines…

GLORIA: She sounds drunk.

HALEY: That’s not her drunk voice.

JAY: Dottie. Dottie, Dottie, please, I’m just trying to get my ballot in the box.

DOTTIE: Oh yeah, that sounds familiar.

JAY: You don’t have to do anything, just let me put it in! (Shouldn’t have said that.)

WALT: Too much government already! I didn’t fight a war so some politician could tell me where I have to “stop my car.”

PHIL: You don’t even drive.

WALT: That’s ’cause that Barack Obama took my license away!

PHIL: I don’t think he was involved in the decision.

And finally…

PHIL: Our daughter might be going to college!

Unfortunately, I feel like I’ve been put on a wait-list for a better episode of Modern Family. Here’s hoping for a more satisfying result next week…

Season 3, Episode 19 of Modern Family first aired on ABC on April 11, 2012.

SEE ALSO
Polentical: TV in Review: Modern Family, “Send out the Clowns”
Couchtime with Jill: Modern Family: Congrat…Condolences, Claire
mrsubjective: TV: Modern Family 3.19 “Election Day” Best Lines
Show and Tell: Modern Family Recap – Election Day